For the entire month of February, NBC will feature essays on black Americans who pioneered United States history during the civil rights movement that led to statewide desegregation. The pioneers include those who led local school desegregation efforts, professionals who have become shining lights in their industries, and proponents who directly fueled the wave of change in the nation’s quest for racial justice and equality .
Percell Conway
Fear had nothing to do with it. I think about [my future]… children I could have or a wife I could marry, and most of my friends feel the same way. We wanted to challenge the system and not stop demonstrating until we found a solution.
Purcell Conway
“Purcell, you cannot be arrested. I don’t want you to be arrested. “
Purcell Conway was used to his mother’s frequent requests. At 16, he was a determined civil rights activist who publicly opposed the racial injustice that dominated life in St. Augustine, Florida in the 1950s. His mother knew the dangers of nonviolent civil disobedience in Jim Crow South and became increasingly concerned about his involvement in the movement.
Despite the known risks, Conway realized that inaction could expose him to injustice for a lifetime – a fate he refused to accept.
Conway was born into an America where the wheels of the civil rights movement were just beginning to turn. Growing up in the historic Black West Augustine and Lincolnville neighborhoods of St. Augustine, his childhood memories include several turning points: the murder of Emmett Till, the arrest of Rosa Parks, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, and the terrorization of a prominent neighbor.
Dr. Robert Hayling, known as the “father” of the St. Augustine Civil Rights Movement, lived on Conway’s Block. Hayling’s house was the target of racial attacks, including heavy gun shots through his walls and front door that killed his dog.
Meanwhile, a sit-in protest at the local Woolworth lunch counter ended with the arrest and detention of nine black teenagers and seven children. Four of the children were incarcerated for six months and became known as the “St. Augustine Four”. Two of these children were Conway’s classmates.
There was also covert discrimination. As a child, Conway asked his mother why she called white people “Mister” or “Miss”, but she was always called by her first name. Conway said that whenever he asked his mother these questions, she told him to “leave it alone”.
When Conway’s white neighbor offered him a sandwich and served it on the floor next to the dog bowl, both Conway and his mother decided to act.
“From this day forth, [my mother] started demonstrating and my father started demonstrating, ”Conway recalled. “And many of the black adults have started demonstrating with their children.”
Conway realized that what he was witnessing was more than just a movement – it was an opportunity to ensure a better future.
Purcell Conway, a civil rights activist who was part of the “wade-ins” that led to the desegregation of St. Augustine Beach, Florida, shares his experience with and about the violence he experienced during his wade-in the work he has done has yet to be done beyond the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“[For me]Fear had nothing to do with it. I think about [my future] … children I could have or a wife I could marry, and most of my friends feel the same way. We wanted to challenge the system and not stop demonstrating until we found a solution. “
Conway began meeting with students at Ford Memorial College to discuss the civil rights movement and work out a plan to demonstrate in groups.
As Conway, fellow students, and leaders like Hayling continued to demonstrate in the streets of St. Augustine, prominent national civil rights activists would draw attention.
In the summer of 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) evening marches to the Old Slave Market of St. Augustine, where they were exposed to frequent counter-demonstrations by the Ku Klux Klan and violence that attracted media attention. Weeks before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed, King and Rev. Ralph Abernathy were arrested while trying to have lunch in the segregated Monson Motor Lodge restaurant.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. patted a young picket on the back when a group of teenagers began painting St. Augustine, Florida on June 10, 1964.
“A lot of people in the black community called [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson] Agitators, ”said Conway. “The agitators were the young people who were denied basic civil rights. We were the agitators. Dr. King and his entourage focused only on that. “
In June 1964, Conway and four friends joined civil rights activist Al Lingo and other non-violent protesters to integrate St. Augustine Beach as one of many “wade-ins” that take place at the city’s separate pools and beaches. It wasn’t long before Conway and his protesters were surrounded by those who wanted to keep the sand and surf separate.
“We were in the water maybe five minutes before this huge crowd came up from north and south,” Conway recalled.
Conway and friends watched as more and more counter-protesters approached, waved the Confederate flags and threatened the protesters. Lingo turned to Conway and advised them to leave before things “get out of hand”. Conway’s group tried to escape to their car, but they were quickly encircled.
“They threaten and say that they will throw us into the ocean,” said Conway. “They brought these … weights that they said would wrap around our legs and waist and get us as far in the surf as possible and toss and drop us.”
A white boy Conway recognized from town approached him and hit Conway in the face with the brass knuckles, splitting his lip. Lingo stood behind Conway and encouraged him to “hold his own”. Moments later, Lingo collapsed after being hit over the head with a pipe.
State troops were called in to disperse the segregationists and to continue the peaceful demonstration. Conway and friends watched from the beach as violence broke out between the soldiers and the white mob.
“Now I’m really confused. I cannot understand these white men fighting for my rights against other white men. [The state troopers] Beat the clan and their sympathizers into submission. “When the soldiers informed Conway and his friends that it was safe to go into the water, the surf was red with blood.
Despite the legal segregation, attempts continued to be made to keep members of the black community away from public swimming pools and beaches. However, the wade-in campaigns, in which Conway and other activists participated despite threats of violence, raised awareness and influenced demonstrations across the country.
A group of white segregationists attacked a group of black activists when they began swimming on June 25, 1964 in St. Augustine Beach, Florida. The police moved in and broke off the fighting between segregationists and civil rights demonstrators.
From the violence on the shores of St. Augustine Beach to painful memories of humiliation and discrimination in his youth, Conway still thinks back on his mother’s plea not to be arrested when he went to demonstrate. Conway recalled that his entire family – mother, father, and three brothers – were imprisoned at the same time. Even so, Conway understood that progress came at a cost, and equality was and is worth the battle.
Among other things, Conway reflected on the height of the St. Augustine Movement: the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“The civil rights law is passed. Many thought that was the end. Well we won, this is the end. Not so. People have to keep rising and making their voices heard. … It will change the way this country is for the better. “
The civil rights law is passed. Many thought that was the end. Well we won, this is the end. Not so. People have to keep rising and making their voices heard.
Purcell Conway
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